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11 iPhone Apps That Will Clean Out Your Junk Drawer

Empty out your junk drawers, people. If you've got an iPhone, you may now keep all of those silly space-taking gadgets right in your pocket (or fancy iPhone holster).

With the launch of the app store for iPhone 3G, and now for the original iPhone and iPod Touch, there's quite the collection of tools. And I'm not just talking about social media tools, I'm talking household, real-life tools.

Think about consolidating your junk drawer(s) with these 11 apps:

Tea Timer – No worries about that tea being overcooked, or anything else that involves a kitchen timer. You now have Tea Timer right in your pocket. Countdown times can be set from 30 seconds to 15 minutes. This app goes for $0.99 and the creator disagrees that the Timer feature in the iPhone native Clock app works just as well.

Level – A Level by Posimotion gives you the ability to turn your iPhone or iPod Touch into a level. You can use this baby in portrait mode, landscape mode or face-up mode to make sure those picture frames are never crooked again! The creator notes that the tool is for recreational use only because "all accelerometer hardware is not created equal."

Tape Measure – It might not be the most accurate application, but for $0.99 TapeMeasure by Limekiln Software gives you the ability to take measurements from a previous position to your current position. Add GPS to it and you can measure long distances in either feet/miles or meters. Eat your heart out, Bob Vila!

FlashLight – Tanjas SOS Flashlight could save your life. No really, besides turning the screen into a white glowing object to, say, find your keys in the dark, it also functions as a blinking SOS signal on-demand in white, red, or green.

Dice Bag – Don't you dare worry about losing those dice for your role-playing games. Dicebag by Jeff LaMarche will always be at your service. According to the creator, it contains all of the basic polyhedral dice as well as the most common multi-dice rolls, including percentile dice.

Writing Pad – Still prefer good 'ol pen and paper? Well perhaps WritingPad by Norman Wang will change your tune. Don't worry about typing in all of those silly letters anymore; just draw on the screen and it will translate your chicken scratch into text notes. Unless you prefer to read your own handwriting, in which case this won't help you at all.

Self Defense Alarm – Who needs a tazer when you've got Masayuki Akamatsu's Alarm Free. According to the creator, this alarm is a self-defense/emergency alarm with a freefall detector. Also useful for getting the attention of a bartender.

Shopping List – Shopper by MidCentury Software makes shopping lists easy. It has a catalog of over 200 popular grocery items and will let you take pictures and append them to the list. Check off items as you go and you'll never forget the milk again! This specific tool goes for $4.99 but if you want a less specific list app, you can use one of the several free list apps, including myTo-Dos by doapp.

Handheld Recorder – If you have one of those little note-to-self recorders, now is the time to kick it to the can (trash can that is). SpeakEasy by Zarboo is $4.99 and is ready to record, play, pause, rewind, and categorize all of your voice note needs. You could also use the plain 'ol Recorder by Retronyms and have the ability to email yourself the audio files.

Abacus – Get rid of your fears, Abacus by Pixio is here! Toss out the wooden pile of beads and boards in your junk drawer. Now you have an abacus right on your iPhone for all of your counting and calculating joys. According to the creators, it's fully customizable, allowing you to choose your favorite combination of beads, frames, row counts, and layouts.

Whoopie Cushion – No longer will you need to pry apart the blow-hole on your whoopee cushion after several months in the junk drawer. Pop open Whoopie Cushion by doapp and choose from 10 rude sounds to embarrass your friends.

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